Fixing Fate
by kittyluv2000
Summary: Keith is a surly college kid who hates everything Valentine's Day. Lance is a Cupid tasked with pairing up kids from his school. When Keith takes it upon himself to get rid of the Cupid...well, things don't turn out how he expected. And now he's got a Cupid living in his house. Rating may change to M later. Keith x Shiro x Lance! Inspired by a comic by rachelhuey88 on tumblr.
1. Cupid in the Classroom

**Alriiiight! New story! Woot woot! I told a couple people on Instagram about his, but told them the old name. I said it was called 'Changing Fate'. But 'Fixing Fate' has such a nice ring to it! Maybe I'll use alliteration for all the chapter titles, just cuz that's how it's turning out so far. XD So - to karolinatierney00 and : I hope you guys like it! ;)  
**

 **Chapter One: Cupid in the Classroom**

Keith hates February. It's full of overly romantic couples and cheesy gifts and commercials that make him cringe _every time. Especially_ the ones with terrible puns in them. Keith detests terrible puns, and corny jokes, and anyone who makes those kinds of things. And since he dislikes overly romantic stuff, he is _not_ amused when his buddy Hunk starts getting all starry-eyed over a girl he's never noticed before.

"Dude, you literally have not even _spoken_ to her before yesterday! How the hell do you know you like her?!" Keith hisses, leaning over to Hunk, who brushes him off and keeps staring at the back of this girl's head.

"Shush, Keith. You're just salty because _you_ have no one for Valentine's Day." Keith rolls his eyes.

"I don't _need_ anyone for Valentine's Day! And _you_ are being _ridiculous_ by saying that you have Shay! _You two have never talked before! You've never even noticed her!"_ Keith's voice gets slightly too loud, and he hastily leans back to sit normally before the teacher realizes it's him talking. Hunk is oblivious to every single one of Keith's attempts at conversation, and eventually Keith gets bored and gives up. With nothing to do but listen to the monotonous droning of the teacher, Keith soon gets so bored he just zones out. His eyes unfocus, and suddenly, singing that wasn't present before pops into resolution. Keith blinks, refocusing his eyes and the thing stays. Now that he's seen it, it's not out of his sight range anymore,and he doesn't have to try to be able to see it clearly. Just like all supernatural beings he encounters. See, Keith has the ability to see creatures that would normally be invisible to humans. His roommate, Shiro, does too, so Keith doesn't know what it stems from. No one else have ever said anything about any sort of creatures, so…

Anyways. Keith stares at the newest creature, not sure he can comfortably call it something like 'creature'. Because this one isn't just _vaguely_ human shaped, like most humanoids he sees. Nope, it _is_ a human, albeit one with small, fluffy white wings coming from its shoulder blades. Keith is pretty sure it's a _he,_ in closer inspection, so he adjusts his thoughts a little. The thing is wearing a _toga,_ and a short one at that, which leaves half his tan-skinned chest and back uncovered and most of his legs. He's also got a bow across his back, slung over his shoulder next to the quiver of arrows. As Keith watches, he strolls over til he's behind Hunk, whistling the Mission Impossible theme jauntily and fiddling with the small, heart-shaped gold clip at the hip of his toga. Once behind Hunk, the guy gauges where Hunk is looking, and grins.

"Nice. Still working. Nice long-lasting arrows, Pidgeon." he mutters appreciatively, not noticing the human staring _right_ at him from right next to his target. The _being_ \- that's what Keith has decided to call it - floats upwards with a flap or two of its fluffy wings and flies over to Shay. He frowns at where her attention is - the teacher, where it should be - and unslings his bow. Grabbing an arrow from his quiver, the being jabs Shay in the arm with it, floats back over to Hunk, and jabs Hunk with it. The arrow disappears, and Keith watches as Shay's demeanour goes all relaxed as she is roped right back into having a crush. _So…I'm assuming this is Cupid._ Keith thinks, frowning. _Great. I_ _hate_ _Cupid._ The being is still flying, flitting back and forth between Hunk and Shay to check on them and their obvious daydreaming, and Keith is getting annoyed just _looking_ at him. So when he's close again, Keith reaches out and, pretending he's swatting a fly, grabs his wrist and shoves him so his feet are on the floor. Cupid yelps, wings fluttering spasmodically in shock, and he zips away from Keith a few feet before stopping and scrutinizing him. Piercing blue eyes squint at Keith, judging him with fear buried underneath annoyance and derision. Then, he runs a hand through already-messy brown hair and puts on a ridiculous pout.

"Meanie human. Guess that means you can see me, huh." Keith nods discreetly, and Cupid groans. "Fine, I don't care, just _don't_ interfere with my job. I am a Cupid, and I'm gonna do what I have to do to not get scolded _again._ That other guy who could see me wrecked everything last time I was here." Keith frowns. _Other guy…? Could he mean…_

"Shiro?" Keith whispers, curious. Cupid glares at him.

"How should I know?!" With that, he flaps his wings indignantly at Keith and flutters away out of the classroom. It seems like he's done checking up on Hunk and Shay. Keith grabs a sheet of looseleaf paper from his binder and quickly jots down info and a doodle about the newest addition to his supernatural creatures archive. Then, he pulls out his phone and texts his roommate.

 _ **Sent: 1:32pm: Shiro, have you seen Cupid before?**_

 _Sent: 1:40pm: Yes, I have seen a Cupid. There are more. 'Cupid' is the species. If you've seen one, try get rid of it. It doesn't do anything but cause trouble, based on the time I saw one._

 _Sent: 1:41pm: Also - quit texting in class. Focus._

 _ **Sent: 1:42pm: K thanks. I'll be sure to try get rid of it. It's after Hunk. It remembers you btw. Doesn't like you much.**_

 _Sent: 1:44pm: Alright. Now pay attention to your teacher. I'll talk to you after school._

Keith puts his phone back in his pocket and scowls at nothing particular, making sure he's facing the front of the classroom to put up a façade of paying attention. _So these Cupids are troublemakers. I guess the stories screwed them up._ Soon, the bell rings, and Keith sighs in relief as he heads to his locker to pack up his stuff and head home. Shiro meets him at his locker, greeting him warmly before asking him all about his day as they walk to the bus stop. Eventually, the subject is turned to the Cupid Keith saw, and he explains what he looked like. Shiro nods.

"Yup, that's the one. He was trying to get me and Allura hooked up or something." Keith raises an eyebrow.

"Allura? _Why_ exactly do you not want that to happen?" Shiro shrugs.

"I just think live should be something that grows, not something that's just shot out of a bow." At that, someone right behind them starts laughing hysterically, unable to contain their mirth. Both boys whip around to see another Cupid, this one with short, light brown hair and pale, freckly skin. The Cupid adjusts his (her?) big, round glasses and grins at them.

"How do you _think_ love gets started? It _does_ grow on its own. But it's _our_ job to plant the seed!" the Cupid explains, sounding like a smug big kid explaining something obvious to a stupid child. Then, too fast for either Shiro or Keith to react, she (he?) fires two arrows. One hits Shiro. The other hits Allura, who is near the front of the bus. The Cupid hangs around for a bit, making sure the arrows have worked (they have. Shiro looks like a lovestruck idiot.), before giving Keith a jaunty salute and a shit-eating grin and disappearing. Keith has to _drag_ Shiro off the back exit of the bus to keep him from chasing after Allura.

.oOo.

The more Keith thinks about those stupid Cupids, the more pissed off he gets. _They're ruining everything! Them and their stupid arrows!_ Shiro barely pays attention to him anymore, too busy daydreaming or talking about Allura. It might have been endearing if Keith wasn't so fed up with Valentine's day and all its mushy, lovey-dovey crap in the first place.

It takes a couple days, but eventually Shiro returns to almost-normal. Over the course of those days however, Keith gets so fed up that he actually makes a plan to _catch_ one of the Cupids and make it take back whatever magic the one with glasses put in his brother. Because god _damn_ , a pining, lovey-dovey Shiro is _mortifying._ For _Keith._ Not Shiro, though, and not Allura either. _They're_ too busy making puppy eyes at each other. This plan is why Keith brings a small butterfly net with him to school on Monday. He'd bring a larger one, except he'd look weird…and he couldn't find one at the dollar store. And before school, when Keith meets up with Hunk, he keeps on the lookout for one of the Cupids to drop by and check on either Hunk and Shay, or Shiro and Allura. His patience is rewarded when he spies the one after Hunk around the corner of the school. Excusing himself, Keith chases after him. The Cupid is totally oblivious, only realizing what is about to happen when he hears the butterfly net _**swoosh**_ as it goes upwards. And then downwards. Then, the net's handle is wrenched painfully from Keith's hands as the Cupid shrieks, leaping away and trying to fly but failing as the net tangles in his wings. Keith almost feels bad when he sees the Cupid's wide, wet eyes, filled with pain.

"Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?! What do you humans have against me?!" he keens, trying to grasp the handle of the net. He gets it, but when he pulls on it, he lets out a pained groan and stops. "Get it off! It's wrecking my wings!" Keith folds his arms and glares at the Cupid, who is staring up at him with an accusatory glare from where he's kneeling on the grass.

"Not until you get rid of whatever voodoo you and the other one put on Shiro and Hunk." The Cupid gapes at him.

"You…don't approve of their love? Are you really so evil you'd deny them their happiness?!" he gasps, flailing melodramatically. Keith is reminded of the over-the-top 'acting' the Drama kids do at first. Flailing and yelling and looking absolutely ridiculous.

"Of _course_ not. I want them to be happy. But…I just…" The Cupid gives him a calculating look.

"You just…?" Keith shakes his head.

"They're both just acting super weird. Can they be in love _without_ being oblivious sappy idiots?" A resolute shake of the head, which tosses that brown hair around and doesn't help the messy state of it.

"Nope," he chirps, popping the 'p' and grinning at Keith. "Now. Get my wings out of this damn net." Keith grins at him evilly.

"Nope." He pops the 'p', and the Cupid looks absolutely shellshocked.

"Hey!" he whines. "That's _mine!_ You can't steal my line!" Then, he pouts. "And Pidge is gone today so _they_ can't help me…guess I hafta rely on _you_ , Mullet Boy." Keith yelps an embarrassingly high-pitched,

"What?!" at the nickname, immediately protesting in anger. "It's _not_ a fucking mullet!" The Cupid grins and sticks his tongue out at Keith.

"Sure it isn't, _Mullet Boy._ " Then, he gets up and dusts himself off. Before he can do a thing, Keith grabs the bow and quiver from his hands and stuffs them in his backpack.

"You're not getting these back until you agree to get Shiro and Hunk back to normal." The Cupid protests loudly, but Keith ignores him. No one but Keith and Shiro can hear the Cupid, so that's not a problem. Then, a thought occurs to Keith. "Wait a second. Can everyone else just see a floating net right now?" He gets a glare for this.

"No. I'm not _stupid._ Anyone who can't see me on their own cannot ever see me at all. So the net's a part of my magic now." He falls silent, which Keith appreciates. Until he hears the salty grumbling. "Stupid _humans_ and their stupid _deals_ getting me in trouble…why does it always happen to _me?"_ He still sounds a little whiny, but by now it's mostly just sad, and Keith tells him to shut up before he starts feeling guilty. Shiro gives him a weird look when Keith rounds the corner with a pouty Cupid trailing him, and Keith just shrugs. Shiro turns his attention back to Allura, whom he is chatting with. Keith grimaces. _I can't_ _wait_ _until he brings Allura home and I have to wear earplugs…_ he thinks sarcastically. He turns to the captured Cupid to point out how ridiculous they're acting, just to pause at the big happy grin on his face.

"Look at them. They're so _happy_ together. Do you _really_ want to break that up?" Keith groans.

"I do _not_ want to break them up! I just want them to stop looking like stupid lovesick puppies! It's ridiculous!" The Cupid folds his arms and shakes his head in disappointment.

"But that's how love _works,_ Mullet Boy. They're gonna be like this for a while, a few dates in at least. Once they really get comfy, _then_ they'll start acting totally normal around each other. And we get to see if they're actually a good couple." Keith frowns.

"Wait, so it might not actually be a good pairing?" he asks in confusion (sounding a little hopeful, too).

"Not necessarily. Love isn't an exact science. It's kind of like gambling." Keith growls, pissed off.

"So you just pick random people and put 'em together?!" The Cupid sighs and fiddles with his toga.

"Not the Cupids. The higher-ups do that bit. That's why a lot of relationships don't work out. The higher-ups just _don't understand how love works._ That is also why I get in trouble so often. I make my own couples instead of the ones I'm given. They work out great, but I get tagged as disobedient. And then people like you and Shiro come along and try to 'help' me, or hinder me, and I get in even more trouble. The Garrison _hates_ me." Keith expects the Cupid to look sad, but he's grinning instead. "Not that I care! They're all old geezers with entire _trees_ up their asses! I just gotta make sure _this_ mission ends up well. If I fail this, I get kicked out of the Garrison…" His grin fades, to be replaced by a fearful grimace. He obviously does _not_ want to be kicked out. Keith wonders what the consequences of that are. Then, the bell rings, and Keith forgets all about it in favour of going to school. His roommate is definitely a 'dad' friend, and he'll lecture Keith for _ever_ if he doesn't get good grades.

.oOo.

 _C'mon, Pidge, hurry up and get back here!_ Lance thinks desperately, trying again to get the net out of his wings. But all _that_ does is send a spear of agony all the way down his spine, setting Lance into a pain-fueled swearing streak. Glaring at the back of Mullet Boy's head, Lance peeks over his shoulder and steals a glance at his notes. Keith. Keith Kogane. Lance's eyebrows raise, and he has to hold his breath to keep from bursting into peals of laughter right then and there. _Oh jeez. If this kid hates people being sappy so much, I can't wait to see his reaction when Pidge gets him that boyfriend he's scheduled for._ Lance grimaces. Sure, it'll be funny, but both he and Pidge are of the opinion that Keith and the other dude - Carl? Kyle? - are _not_ a good match. They're both too _confrontational._ Lance gasps and claps his hands when he sees Pidge at the window, pointing to his tangled wings and pouting. Pidge raises their eyebrows and folds their arms over their chest, which is covered with baggy white cloth. Lance still doesn't know what gender Pidge was supposed to be. But that doesn't matter now, because Pidge is kind of neither and both at the same time now. Lance points at Keith and mimes swinging a butterfly net. Pidge rolls their eyes and gives Lance a 'just wait' hand motion. Lance pouts, and turns away, wincing when the sharp movement jostles the net.

"You, Mullet Boy, are a jerk. This stupid net makes my wings hurt." Keith ignores him.

.oOo.

Pidge waits outside for a while, watching Keith. He's definitely got a specific set of quirks, which totally clash with his scheduled partner's. Humming pensively, Pidge flaps their wings and goes to find a way inside the building. _I'll have to keep watching all of them for a while._ Because Garrison knows, if Pidge is unhappy with a pairing, they're going to change it. And Pidge is _very_ unhappy with the 'Keith and Carson' matchup. They _are_ pretty happy with some 'Keith and Shiro' though. Allura may have to go.

.oOo.

Pidge only gets around to helping Lance after the school day is over. By that time, Lance has followed Keith home, whining and griping enough to get even the super calm _Shiro_ annoyed at him. Pidge is amused by this, and puts off helping Lance again in favour of watching Keith and Shiro interact some more. Shiro is one of the few people Keith is open to, and Pidge really has no idea why the higher-ups would choose Keith a partner he doesn't even know. It's _bound_ to be a disaster. Finally, Pidge flies up to Keith's room, where Lance is distracting him from homework pettily, and clears their throat.

"You!" Keith yelps, pointing an accusatory finger at Pidge as he whirls around to face them. "You're the one that made Shiro all sappy! Get _rid_ of it." Pidge raises an eyebrow at him.

"No way. Not with the way you're asking." Keith seeths, turning back to his homework in a huff as Lance runs to Pidge gratefully.

"Thank the Garrison! Pidgeon, you gotta help me get this thing off my wings!" Pidge's eye twitches, and they spit out an angry,

"No." Lance gives them puppy dog eyes, something he is really good at doing, and keep asking.

"Oh, c'mon, Pidge. I didn't _mean_ it. The nickname's just _fun_. _Please_ help me!" Pidge smirks at that.

"Alright. _Since_ you asked nicely." Keith definitely notices that, turning his head to look at Pidge with narrowed eyes. Pidge sits Lance down and gets to work carefully extracting his wings from the butterfly net, muttering about how stupid Lance is to have gotten himself stuck in this. Eventually, Pidge gets it out but what's left isn't pretty. There are a few feathers that had to be taken out, and most of Lance's feathers are crumpled in some way. "Crap. Well, Lance, I'm gonna have to pull out some more feathers. Your wings are _totalled._ " Lance whines unhappily, but stays still. Pidge pulls out one particularly twisted feather and get slapped across the face with a wing as it jerks instinctively. "Okay. That's it. Lay down. That's the third time you've whacked me." Lance apologizes and lays down. Pidge places a knee on the wing they're currently fixing, and gets to work pulling out wrecked feathers.

.oOo.

Keith winces yet again as the Cupid - Lance - keens in pain, sound muffled by the pillow he's put over his face. Keith is definitely feeling guilty now, having had to listen to Lance wail in pain for the past twenty minutes as the other one - Pidge - plucks wrecked feathers out of his wings. _Feathers that are wrecked because of_ _me_ _,_ Keith thinks, grimacing. Eventually, Pidge finishes, and Lance sits up.

"Ow…" he groans, gently running his fingers through his greatly reduced wings. "I totally can't fly anymore. I'm _stuck!"_ Pidge nods.

"Yup. For a while, too. Keith. You get to take care of him, since this was your fault. Also, you owe me." Keith doesn't get to ask why, but he gets his answer when Pidge pulls a specific arrow from their quiver. Lance jumps up eyes wide and horrified.

"Pidge, no! That's not allowed!" he gasps, and Pidge rolls their eyes.

"And since _when_ have I ever obeyed the rules?" Lance has no answer for that, frowning in discomfort at the situation as he sits back down on the bed. Pidge leaves, already nocking the arrow to their bow.

"Wait, what's that one for?" Keith asks. Lance sighs.

"It's the only kind of Cupid arrow that _breaks up_ relationships. I'd guess Pidge is going to break apart Shiro and Allura. They're really against that one for some reason." Keith grins.

"Yes! Now Shiro'll quit acting so weird!" Lance just puts his face in his hands.

"The Disappointment Duo strikes again…we're _both_ gonna get kicked out of the Garrison…" he groans dejectedly. Just then, Pidge returns.

"Done. They're just friends now. _Now,_ Shiro is freed up for a _way_ better pairing." Lance groans again, and Keith is about to tell him to stop whining before he realizes that's not why he's groaning. This time, it's because he tried to lie down and that aggravated his wings. Pidge stares at Keith seriously and says,

"You will be keeping Lance _with you_ or _at this house,_ until his wings heal and I come back to get him, because _you_ owe me, Keith, and Lance needs the cover. Cupids are constantly being hunted down by Galra, which are kind of like demons. We try not to get kicked out of the Garrison because that makes us vulnerable. Capische?" Keith nods dumbly, wondering where the heck Lance can sleep. Lance can apparently read minds, because he pulled up and answers Keith's questions.

"I don't sleep. No Cupids do. 24/7 job, baby! But I _do_ need to eat a little bit. Maybe like once a day." Keith sighs and puts his head in his hands. _What have I gotten myself into?_ He thinks to himself. But, he does owe Pidge a favour, and it's not like Lance is _that_ much work, right?

.oOo.

It's Day 3 of Lance Confinement Time, as he's begun to call it in his head. Lance is sitting cross-legged on Keith's bed, staring through the window across the room. He has half a mind to go close the curtains and hide, but he likes the sunlight. Plus, he's not feeling the queasy feeling he never fails to get when there are Galra around. So he stays right where he is, almost in a trance as he stares at the slowly drifting clouds in the blue sky. He can't really control where his mind goes in his current state, lulled into a drowse by the silence of Keith and Shiro's empty house. So eventually, it gets to the topic he's always consciously trying not to think of. And he's so far gone he doesn't catch it in time to stop it, and he's swept away like a leaf in a river. (What a fitting comparison.)

" _Ben! Get away from there! The river bank is unstable!" He has told him this so many times. But Ben never listens. He keeps on going back to the riverside, playing in the mud with his little tractors and toys. Getting so,_ _so_ _messy. Lance groans and prepares for a fight as he makes his way towards his brother, walking carefully down the rather steep hill leading to the riverside. He looks down for a moment to place his feet, hears a splash, and when he looks back up Ben is gone. The boy is downstream a ways already, and Lance starts running. He doesn't care about the mud splashing him, or the roots and knolls threatening to turn his ankle. He dives in, and it's_ _freezing_ _. Ben is struggling, but he's young. He can't swim in this current. Lance grabs him. Fights to the edge of the river. Throws Ben onto the shore. Then, a large piece of driftwood hits him, and he goes under. He doesn't resurface anytime soon enough._

Lance jerks to full alertness, shivering. He feels queasy, and although he's pretty sure it's from remembering his own death, he closes the curtains anyways and hides in the corner of the room. What feels like an eternity later, Keith and Shiro return home. Lance gets up, stretching his stiff limbs and heading downstairs to greet them. He's already shoved the terrible memory far into the depths of his mind.

.oOo.

Keith enters his house in silence, and Shiro follows soon after. The older man has been silent the whole walk home, apparently still confused in his free time about why he thought he loved Allura that much, and not just in friend way. Keith hasn't been able to tell him the truth. He doesn't know if he ever will. Because after the fact, he feels _really_ selfish, and is aggressively second-guessing himself. The awkward silence is broken by a happy chirp of,

"Hi, guys! How was your day?" Keith jumps in shock and almost uses some hand-to-hand combat moves before he remembers the Cupid living with him and his roommate now.

"...Hi, Lance." he says flatly, mentally facepalming. Shiro greets him in a distracted manner, smiling nonetheless and seeming happy to see the grinning, toga-clad kid.

"Good. How was yours?" Keith walks upstairs to put his stuff away as Shiro carries on a conversation with Lance, frowning as he sees the closed curtains. _Do Cupids not like light? No, that's not it…Whatever. I'll ask later if I decide I care enough._ Trudging back downstairs, Keith finds Shiro starting to make supper already, with Lance hopping excitedly next to him as he watches him cook. _Jesus. He's like a friggin' puppy. Does he_ _ever_ _run out of energy?_ Thus far, the answer is a definite no. Keith is about to go to his room when something occurs to him. He had seen a very strange new creature around lunchtime that day. Maybe Lance would know something about it?

"Hey, Lance? Can I ask you a question?" Lance turns around and pads over to Keith, bare feet sticking a little to the linoleum.

"Shoot," he says jauntily, grinning at Keith in his _really freaking annoying_ way.

"I saw a weird creature on someone's back today. I did a little sketch, could you come look at it and tell me what you think?" Lance nods, expression suddenly unusually serious.

"Of course." He follows Keith to his room, and Keith fishes around in his backpack for a bit before finding and extracting his notebook. He flips to the page on which he's doodled what he saw, and hands it to Lance. Lance gasps and his eyes widen in shock, and Keith asks what's wrong worriedly. Lance looks at him with huge eyes, and then murmurs,

"Holy _crap_ , Mullet Boy. You can actually _draw!_ I was expecting a crappy stick figure!" Keith stares for a second before getting royally pissed off, and Lance collapses into hysterics, laughing so hard he falls over. "Ohh, man, I _totally_ got you!" Then, a few seconds into Keith yelling at him in embarrassment and anger, Lance's demeanour does yet another full 180°. He frowns at the drawing, humming as he nods to himself and mouths stuff under his breath. He looks up at Keith and hands back the journal. "You said it was on someone's back?" Keith nods. Lance suddenly looks sick, going pale and staring at Keith with wide eyes. "We need to find whoever it was on. Now. Or _really_ soon at the latest. That thing - a daemon to be specific - is the physical embodiment of negative emotions. It appears when things get _really_ bad. Like, imminent death kind of bad. Judging by your sketch, that particular one is Self-Doubt, but there are many different kinds. That person's _life_ is in danger. We gotta kill the daemon." Keith blinks, taken aback.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what?! A demon?!" Lance shakes his head.

"No. A _daemon._ There's a difference. It's usually not my job to kill those things, but if it's _that_ _bad_ , it has to go." Keith nods.

"I…okay. Sure. I'll go for a walk and find him. I did a group project with him once so I know where his house is." He stands, and Lance follows suit. He is adamant that he's coming, and eventually Keith relents. It's not like Lance can _do_ anything in his current state.

Ten minutes into the walk, and Keith is regretting bringing Lance. The idiot _will not shut up_. He rambles on about the _stupidest_ stuff, and Keith is once again reminded of a puppy. An annoying one who won't. Stop. Yapping.

Keith manages to tune Lance out, and eventually they make it to their destination. Keith knocks on the door and waits. It takes a few minutes, and Keith wants to leave but Lance pulls him back, but the door is finally opened. And Keith has to bite his tongue _hard_ to keep from yelling at the state of the person who opens the door. The boy, Tanner Keith thinks his name is, has deep bags under his eyes, and his skin is pale. The creature from before has gotten larger and is clinging to his back, spindly black limbs wrapped around his waist and shoulders, a clawed hand resting on his throat. As Keith stares, unable to tear his eyes away and say anything, the monster turns its gaping maw towards Tanner's ear and hisses in a gargling voice,

" _He thinks you're disgusting. Look. He won't even talk to you. Won't even look at you."_ Lance clears his throat, and that breaks the spell. Keith's eyes snap up to Tanner's sunken eyes and he starts talking, just trying to find anything to diminish the threat of the daemon.

"Hey, Tanner. I was, uh…just wondering if you were okay. You seemed a little off in class earlier today. Anything you need to talk about?" Keith is sweating. If Tanner wasn't totally drained from the daemon's presence, this would be _so_ much more awkward. And it's terrible as is. Tanner's eyes widen at his words.

"You…noticed?" Keith can almost hear the unspoken words attached to that question. _You care?_ The daemon hisses in anger, and retaliates with,

" _Only because you were being so_ _weird_ _. You're an idiot. He doesn't care."_ Keith resists the urge to flip off the daemon. That would just look like he was flipping off Tanner. As Keith keeps awkwardly yammering to Tanner, Lance sneaks around behind him, and without any sort of warning, leaps towards him and grabs the daemon. Yanking the thing off of Tanner, Lance rolls around on the floor with it, both beings trying to pin the other. Tanner blinks, eyes wide, seeming royally confused for a moment, before he yawns, rubs his eyes, and collapses. Keith kneels down to check if he's okay, and then looks up to see how Lance is doing. The daemon has Lance pinned, and Lance is exerting a ton of effort to keep its claws away from his throat, flapping his wings futilely to try get some leverage off of the floor. Keith starts towards him, and Lance yells at him to stop.

"It'll attach itself to you instead! Just close the door and get the dude somewhere he can rest!" The daemon is distracted by Keith, and Lance takes that moment to roll over, pin its scrawny chest under his knees, and kill it with a dagger he pulls from _god_ knows where. Keith drags Tanner to the couch, leaves him there, and joins Lance back outside.

"So…what is Tanner going to think of me when we go back to school tomorrow…?" he asks. Lance grins at him.

"He'll probably forget everything that happened. That, or he'll remember and think of you as an absolute weirdo." Keith rolls his eyes.

"Oh, _so_ comforting. Thanks." he says sarcastically. Lance cackles. Then, he pats Keith's shoulder.

"You did good. You saved that kid's life." Surprisingly, Lance is quiet the rest of the walk home. Keith has the feeling he shouldn't disturb him from his thoughts.


	2. Dancing With Daemons

**Helloooo everyone! is this new chapter possibly the fastest update to a story I've had yet without having the second chapter pre-written? Possibly. But it' a fast update! So be happy! And don't get too, too mad at me for the cliffhanger...it's really no secret that I'm partial to cliffies at the ends of chapters. XD  
**

 **Chapter Two: Dancing with Daemons **

The next day, Lance is adamant that he is going to school with Keith.

"Not only is it _boring as all hell_ to do nothing but sit around all day in an empty house, but I have stuff to do! I gotta check up on Hunk and Shay, the cuties, look around for Pidge, and daemons too. Cuz if there's one, it means there are gonna be more soon. They breed like _rabbits_ , ya know _._ Feeding off of each other's auras and stuff." Keith lets him after ten full minutes of arguing, and only because Shiro remind him that he'll be late for school if he doesn't leave _now_. So, Keith walks to school with a bouncy Cupid trailing him like his personal fucking puppy. Keith can't help but comment internally: _I don't even_ _like_ _dogs._

.oOo.

Keith is an idiot. This is what Lance decides through the course of the day. He said he only saw _one_ daemon, which is _impossible,_ because there are so damn _many_. Lance has _zero_ time to check on Hunk and Shay, being busy taking down daemon after daemon. _This would be_ _so_ _much easier if I had my bow._ As it is, even though Lance has been using all his spare time alone to look for his bow in Keith's house, Lance hasn't found it. _He had better not have wrecked that, too!_ Lance thinks angrily, seething at the injustice of it all. He doesn't have much time to complain though, as he spies yet another daemon on another student, and gets to work prying it off and killing it.

.oOo.

After school, Keith can't find Lance anywhere. He experiences quite a long moment of panic, hoping that the Cupid is okay, before he remembers that Lance is annoying and he should _want_ him to leave him alone. Then, Lance appears and worry fills Keith's gut again.

"Holy crap, you look terrible! What happened to you?!" he asks as Lance walks up. The Cupid has many cuts and bruises everywhere Keith can see (and probably elsewhere too), including a nice set of claw marks across his chest and a goose egg on his head, as well as some bite marks made by inhuman fangs. The bruises are dark against his skin, and the area around each and every claw mark or bite is turning a sickly shade of greenish purple. Lance gives Keith an unimpressed look.

"I look bad because I fought daemons all day. What's _your_ excuse?" Keith raises his eyebrows at the sass. He had been expecting some bad joke, but he'll have to settle for a sarcastic jab. That's well within Lance's usual behaviour anyways. They argue over anything and everything, and Keith really can't tell if it's joking or not. Keith stares for a moment at the ugly stain spreading slowly across Lance's skin from the cuts and bites.

"Those look really bad. We should get you home and clean them or something." Lance deflates from the tense, argumentative stance he had taken.

"Yeah. Daemons have nasty claws and teeth. They're definitely infected with whatever shit's on there." Keith has a feeling they're more than infected, judging by how fast the discolored splotches are spreading - fast enough that he can watch them grow.

True to Keith's suspicions, by the time they've gotten home, the spots have increased in size drastically, and Lance is sagging against Keith, looking pale.

"Okay, _you_ are not hunting down daemons anymore. You're gonna get killed." Keith comments as he leads Lance to the bathroom. He's really hoping he can clean those properly. Lance rolls his eyes.

"I'm totally getting kicked out of the Garrison by now, so does it even matter how I die? I'd rather it be this than the Galra." Keith feels somewhat reassured by Lance's attitude, although he's disturbed by the blasé way Lance says that. At least he's not so weak he's not being sassy anymore. _That_ would _really_ worry Keith. Lance watches Keith putter around with an unreadable expression. Soon, Keith has gotten out quite the array of basic first aid supplies. He goes over them, pointing at each in turn. Polysporin, Band-Aids, cotton balls, rubbing alcohol...Keith _thinks_ that's all he needs to get rid of the poison or whatever is in those cuts. He gets to work patching Lance up, rolling his eyes when starts complaining at the sting of the rubbing alcohol.

"It's getting rid of germs. Or something." _I'm pretty sure that's what it's for? I hope I'm doing this right._ Eventually, Keith finishes, and Lance looks slightly better than before now that the worst of the cuts and things are covered with Band-Aids and Polysporin. Lance thanks him quietly ( _It's a miracle,_ Keith thinks), and then walks stiffly up to Keith's room, which is apparently his favorite place to be in the house. A while later, after putting away all the medical supplies and eating a snack, Keith goes upstairs to find Lance staring out the window with a far-off, blank look in his eyes. Keith leaves him be, and a little while later Lance joins him and Shiro downstairs with his usual annoyingly chipper attitude, acting like nothing happened at all. For some reason, it pisses Keith off that Lance doesn't tell him why he was so spaced out before. The two barely talk to each other for the rest of the evening, Keith ignoring Lance and Lance preoccupying himself with bothering Shiro.

.oOo.

Keith drifts slowly into consciousness, wondering what time it is. It's dark, with a sliver of moonlight cutting a line of silver across his room, so it can't be time to get up. Sitting up, Keith glances at the clock. 5:23 in the morning. Well, it's too late to go back to sleep now. He'd sleep through his alarm. A soft fluttering sound off to his side sets his heart pounding despite Keith not actually being scared by the sound. Looking over, Keith's eyes settle on Lance's back where he's standing by the window. Lance's wings twitch again. The curtains are open quite a bit, thus the moonlight streaming in. Keith blinks and opens his mouth, but decides against talking. It seems to him that it would be rude to shatter the perfect silence that only happens in the darkest hours of the night. Getting up and being careful not to make too much noise, Keith pads over to join Lance at the window, curious as to what the Cupid could be staring at. There's nothing out there but silver-bathed houses and lawns, and Keith glances at Lance's eyes to try follow their path. Lance's eyes are wide, his pupils huge and dark and speckled with light from the moon and stars. _That's what he's looking at,_ Keith realizes. _He's staring at the sky._ Keith gathers some courage and speaks quietly, and Lance doesn't jump even though he'd given no sign of knowing that Keith was there.

"What're you looking at?" Lance keeps his gaze locked on the night sky, and his lips barely move as he responds.

"The stars. They're pretty, I like watching them whenever I have nothing to do." His wings flutter softly once more, and Keith can tell that this time, they spread a little wider. Lance keeps talking in that same soft voice, and Keith wonders if he even realizes he's talking. In this silence, with the pale light painting everything in silver and shades of grey, the entire world feels like it's holding its breath in wait for the morning. "I used to think stars were the souls of dead people, up in Heaven and shining down on us." He pauses, and folds his wings tight to his back, apparently just noticing that they've opened up. "But that's not true. They last too long. Stars are always there. Souls disappear too fast to be stars." Keith frowns, wondering at the dark tone to Lance's words. For a being whose existence is all about love, this is a pretty dark take on _stars_ of all things.

"I…why do you say that? I thought you'd be all romantic and stuff since…" Keith trails off as Lance looks at him, eyes wet.

"Because I've _watched_ souls disappear. And they go too fast to stop, too fast to stay around. If they were slow enough to be stars, _mi hermana wouldn't have_ _died._ " Lance's wings open fully, feathers fluffing up like he's ready to try fly even without so many of his feathers. "I wish I was an angel. Not a Cupid. Maybe if I was an angel I could bring her back." Keith has no idea what to do when silent tears start rolling down Lance's face in streaks of silver, so he awkwardly pats Lance's shoulder. As Lance turns and buries his face in Keith's shoulder, shaking with noiseless sobs and hugging Keith like a lifeline, Keith wonders what he meant by all that. _Someone died, I get that. But_ _who_ _? What the heck does 'mi hermana' mean? And who were they to Lance?_

.oOo.

Lance stares at Keith with red-rimmed, puffy eyes. He sniffles quietly and wonders when they changed positions from standing by the window to sitting on Keith's bed. He really can't remember. He was just too lost in his memories. But now, Keith is asleep against him, snoring quietly, and Lance can't bring himself to let the boy fall onto the bed. He cradles Keith and marvels at how _pretty_ he looks in the soft moonlight. Whoever he gets for a final partner will be lucky. Lance just hope Keith lets himself love after this Carson thing blows over. Lance purses his lips, debating what he's going to do. He sighs quietly and slowly lets Keith fall to the bed, resting his head on the pillow. Lance pulls some blanket over him carefully (and sloppily), before brushing some hair from his eyes and getting up.

" _Duerma bien._ "

.oOo.

Keith yawns and sits up, frowning at how chilly he is. His blanket has fallen off somehow. It's only when Keith wakes up a little more and shuts off his blaring alarm that he realizes he was on _top_ of the covers.

"What…?" _Oh._ Keith looks around for any sign of Lance and finds nothing save his open curtains and a couple fluffy, white feathers lying around. Keith goes about the rest of his morning in a distracted daze, thinking about last night. He's so busy being lost in his own mind that he doesn't realize until halfway through first period that Lance wasn't anywhere in his house.

.oOo.

Lance bites his thumb nervously, second-guessing himself yet again. _I'm being stupid. What would Pidge say?_ Pidge would hit him. And then chew him out. But Pidge isn't here right now, and Lance has to do this before he loses his courage. So, silently wishing for forgiveness from Keith, he unslings his bow from his shoulders, nocks an arrow to the string, and fires. Then he does it again. Feeling sick, Lance spins around and leaves Keith's school. He'll wait until this thing with Carson blows over. And then he'll find Keith a better boyfriend.

.oOo.

 _It's only been a day! How could this be_ _this_ _fucked up?! The Garrison is even more clueless than I thought!_ Lance is panicking on the inside, but on the outside he's got on this stupid apologetic smile that he _knows_ won't fix anything. It'll make it worse, because Keith is _pissed_ and no amount of talking or smiling is going to calm him down. _Looks like the arrows' effects have been burned off completely. What a sorry excuse for a relationship I've created._ Lance doesn't fight back when Keith hits him. He doesn't say a word in his own defense when Keith yells. He just apologizes, again and again, and lets Keith get his anger out. Lance knew this was how it was going to end. Why didn't he just follow his gut? He was never getting back into the Garrison anyways. Keith yells at him to leave. Lance nods, smile disappearing.

"Alright. I'll go. Please, Keith…" He stops himself. There's no point in asking for Keith's forgiveness. Not now. Not ever. Lance grabs his bow and quiver and leaves,trying to ignore the queasiness in his gut.

.oOo.

Keith sobs, face in his hands, cursing Lance and Cupids and the Garrison and _god damn fucking Carson!_ The homophobic bastard! _Why_ did Lance do that?! How could he?! It's betrayal, what he's feeling,mixed with anger and hatred and grief. He doesn't even want to think about what he'd done. What a fool he'd been, approaching Carson like that and acting _just_ like he'd been disgusted at Shiro and Hunk for. Those Cupid arrows had only worked on Keith. And now he's got humiliation where his love used to be, that fake fucking 'love' Cupids shot from bows at the orders of _things_ who don't know what love _is_. As Keith calms down slowly, getting over the rush of emotions that had blinded him for a while, he notices the blood on his hands. It's blood, he's sure of that. But it's gold in color, dripping from his knuckles in molten droplets onto the few feathers scattered in front of him. Keith knows he should feel terrible. But he just can't feel that way right now. Who knows if he ever will. For now, Keith is going to stay home from school and get over the lovesickness seeping from the shattered pieces of his heart.

.oOo.

Lance wipes more blood from his nose and lips, wiping the golden ichor on his toga. Who cares if it gets dirty. It's already pretty damn bad, what with Keith _and_ those daemons from before all beating him up. Lance knows for a fact that he looks like a sad, sad little excuse for a Cupid, sitting on a playground swing covered in blood and tears, mourning over…what exactly? Lost friendship? Did he ever even _have_ a friendship with Keith? He's pretty sure Keith was just _putting up with him_ until Lance could fly again. Even if he'd _seemed_ nice that one night when Lance had been an idiot and said too much. Lance kicks at the gravel beneath him and stretches his aching wings. Regrowing feathers always feels like bad growing pains. Like when Lance had had his growth spurt…back when he was still _alive_. He'd moaned and groaned so much his mother had given him Advil and told him to go away until he was done whining. Lance chuckles at the memory. Well, he'd known what to do when his little sister had gotten those pains as well. _My little sister…I'm sorry, Maria. I'm so sorry I wasn't there._ Lance looks up at the stars beginning to shine above him in the dusk. _I'm getting quite the streak, aren't I? Not here for Maria. Not here for Pidge. Not here for Keith. What a sorry excuse for a Cupid._ Lance is so wrapped up in his thoughts once again that he doesn't notice that the queasiness in his stomach has gotten way worse - until a clawed hand latches onto his wing and drags him off the swing.

 **Uh-oh! I warned ya there'd be a cliffhanger! I wonder if I posted this on AO3 if more people'd notice it...  
I don't really wanna hafta take care of more than one account though...we'll give it a try. *shrug* will still be my main though.**


	3. IMPORTANT - NOT A CHAPTER

**Hello to everyone who is following this story, who has comnented and favourited it. I thank you** ** _very_** **much. And I'm sorry to do this, but I am no longer interested in this story and am ending it here.**

 **I am also quitting !** **If you wish to follow me on AO3, my active fanfiction account, I am under the same username. I find AO3 easier to use and easier on the eyes.**

 **Thanks again for all your support! I hope to see you on AO3. 3**


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